There’s a reason that teenage drivers in Illinois and around the country pay auto insurance premiums that are higher than any other age group. It’s because their inexperience behind the wheel makes them much more likely to be involved in auto accidents, and crash statistics bear this out. Sometimes, teen drivers even kill other motorists by causing a collision.
That appears to be the case in a fatal wreck this week in Macon County. On Tuesday morning shortly after 7:30am, a 16-year old was driving a car westbound on Andrews Street Road about a mile north of Blue Mound (which is 14 miles southwest of Decatur). According to the Macon County Sheriff’s Department, the car failed to yield the right of way to another car traveling north on Illinois Route 48 and collided with it. The 77-year old male driver of the car on the highway was injured. Also, a 41-year old man and a three-year old girl riding in the teen’s car suffered non-life threatening injuries. But an 80-year old Stonington woman who was a passenger in the 77-year old driver’s car died from her injuries.
Authorities are still investigating the Illinois auto accident, but it appears from the information given that the teenager will be held responsible for the crash and the resulting casualties. So the surviving family members of the elderly woman could choose to file a wrongful death lawsuit on her behalf. Also, the driver of the other vehicle may wish to file a personal injury lawsuit (the reports do not indicate whether or not he was related to her). Both of those lawsuits would name the teen’s parents as the defendant, since minors are not named as defendants in civil suits in Illinois. These suits could allow the plaintiffs to collect reimbursement for hospital and/or burial expenses, and possibly monetary damages for pain and suffering or loss of care or companionship.